// The KRIMINIS magazineThe DossierCriminology through film, TV and anime — one case, one theory.
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Four villains and one mine
Every James Cameron film puts a new face on the bad guy. Underneath them all is the same one: a corporation that measures a planet in kilos of ore.
FilmGreen criminology7 min
By Antonio J. Castillo · KRIMINIS

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FilmWho is the villain of Avatar? Four names and one companyEvery James Cameron film puts a new face on the bad guy. Underneath them all is the same one: a corporation that measures a planet in kilos of ore.

GamesWho is the villain of Cyberpunk 2077? The company that runs the city

BooksWho is the villain of Sherlock Holmes? A professor, not a brute

ComicsWho is the villain of X-Men? Magneto and a mark that won't wash off

FilmWho is the villain of Harry Potter? Voldemort and an idea about blood

GamesWho is the villain of Metal Gear Solid? Nobody here feels guilty

GamesWho is the villain of Red Dead Redemption 2? The West that is ending

FilmWho is the villain of Scream? A mask and a script that gets copied

TVWho is the villain of Stranger Things? Vecna, and the people who name

AnimeWho is the villain of Chainsaw Man? The one holding the leash

AnimeWho is the villain of Fullmetal Alchemist? Father and an entire state

FilmWho is the villain of The Matrix? Four names and a scale

AnimeWho is the villain of Monster? Johan, and the adults who made him

GamesWho is the villain of Mortal Kombat? It depends on who is in charge

AnimeWhy Gin and Tōsen betrayed the Soul Society: two kinds of revenge

AnimeWhy Itachi killed his clan: the order, the lie and the bill

TVWho is the villain of Breaking Bad? The one who ran the numbers

AnimeWho is the villain of One Punch Man? None of them measures up

TVIs Soldier Boy Homelander’s dad? Yes. He called him a disappointment

Books1926: the year Agatha Christie vanished and broke the rules

TheatreDon Juan Tenorio on All Saints' Day: punishment or forgiveness?

Film“Dune: Part Three”: Paul Atreides, the hero Herbert didn’t trust

TheatreZorro and Commander Ramón: the gallows for a few stones in the grain

FilmThe Phantom of the Opera returns: Erik and the stigma of a face

GamesLouis Guiabern: the dictator who promised to end racism

TVLuke Castellan and the absent gods: the defiance of an abandoned son

TVQuirrell: the villain who carried another on the back of his head

Film“Scream” turns 30: Billy, Stu and the horror-movie alibi

FilmScrooge, the Grinch and Hans Gruber: the villains who steal Christmas

Film“Sunrise on the Reaping”: Snow punishes the victor through his family

BooksEsteban García: the revenge the hacienda left as an inheritance

GamesGTA VI: Jason, Lucia and the easy score that never is

FilmJavert: the policeman who could not bear that a convict had changed

FilmKlaus Barbie, the torturer as functionary in “Moulin”

TVMargo Banks: the Hunting Wives queen who killed for her reputation

TVSauron in “The Rings of Power”: the manipulator who comes bearing gifts

FilmVictorian Psycho: two Spaniards and the same murderous governess

FilmThe Dowager Governess of “Wildwood”: the grief that found a culprit

AnimeZagato and the Pillar: is saving the one you love from duty a crime?

AnimeDante Zogratis and the Dark Triad: is evil human nature?

GamesThe Crooked Man: organized crime in the land of fairy tales

TVJurek Walter: the killer prison can’t stop

FilmOther Mommy: the monster that gets in through the bond

TVMargaret White: when faith turns into abuse

BooksMorgan Sloat: Stephen King’s evil wears a suit and a balance sheet

FilmThe Sacamantecas: the bogeyman was real, and nobody could tell

GamesVega, the Spanish villain of Street Fighter: narcissism in a mask

FilmVerity: confession or fiction? What a manuscript can prove

FilmThe villains of Halloween 2026, case file by case file

FilmTerminator and the guilt of machines: who answers for Judgment Day?

FilmFast & Furious and family: when a criminal crew calls itself a family

AnimationThe supplier of evil: five villains who don’t do harm, they sell it

FilmJurassic Park and corporate crime: the danger was never the dinosaur

FilmIndiana Jones and looting: which museum does it belong in?

FilmMission: Impossible and the enemy within: when the spy changes clients

BooksThe Count of Monte Cristo: three traitors society rewarded

BooksMilady de Winter: the villain nobody let start again

BooksAnd Then There Were None: ten crimes the law could not touch

BooksThe White Witch: the coldest psychopath in children’s literature

BooksThe Name of the Rose: finding a culprit or manufacturing one

FilmLorca’s La bola negra: four pages the poet could not finish

FilmRafael Rodríguez Rapún: fact and fiction in La bola negra

FilmFrom vagrants to social dangers: how Spain locked up homosexuals

FilmWho killed Lorca: what is known, what is disputed and what is missing

FilmLa bola negra, read through criminology: five theories, three eras

FeaturesWhich medium has the coldest villains? 998 villains in numbers

FeaturesHow the villain has changed, decade by decade

FeaturesFemale and male villains: what the data says

TVThe Monster effect: what Netflix does to a real case

FilmWhat a tragic villain actually is (and why almost none are)

TVWhat a villain really teaches, and the three myths it leaves behind

FilmSituational action theory: why the same person offends here, not there

FilmTo publish or not: the dilemma of the Unabomber manifesto

AnimeWho is the villain of Attack on Titan? It is the protagonist

AnimeThe problem with Gabi Braun is not cruelty: it is certainty

AnimeWilly Tybur did not declare a war: he premiered one on a stage

AnimeThe executioner who apologises: saying sorry lets you carry on

AnimeHow a genocide begins: what happens years before the first death

BooksVillain tier list: 998 villains, measured

TVWho is the villain of The Simpsons? Not Sideshow Bob

AnimeWho is the villain of Tokyo Revengers? Takemichi already ran the test

AnimeWho is the villain of Dan Da Dan? The respectable village family

AnimeTurbo Granny: the urban legend that manufactured its own monster

AnimeWhy Dan Da Dan's villains end up on the sofa

TVLizzie Borden and the chivalry hypothesis: the 1893 verdict

GamesGanryu Sasaki: the duelist who erased his victims

TVBobby Glass: the boss who runs his empire from prison

GamesThe villains of Marvel's Wolverine: who decides what counts as crime

AnimeInfinity Castle: every Upper Moon fails in its own way

TVBoy Kavalier, the trillionaire boy racing to weaponize the xenomorph

FilmThe Major and The Long Walk: when punishment becomes a spectacle

FilmJosh, the boyfriend in Companion: abuse with a settings menu

FilmCassandra Nova: the mind that dominates without remorse

AnimationGwi-Ma: the demon that feeds on shame and the economy of stigma

FilmRemmick (Sinners): the vampire who comes in through affection

FilmGalactus: «I had no choice» and free will versus determinism

AnimeAntares and the god complex: the tyrant who mistakes might for right

AnimeKaigaku: the envy of the eternal runner-up and relative deprivation

FilmVarang and the code of fire: abandonment turned into law in Avatar

AnimeThe demon who sets a price: Macht, rational choice made monstrous

TVJudi Stonehearst, the friendly assistant experimenting on outcasts

AnimationPrejudice turned into power: Milton Lynxley, the villain of Zootopia 2

AnimeThe Hero Hunter: Garou, the boy who always had to play the monster

FilmThe impresario of punishment: Dan Killian and death on live TV

AnimeThe clan's blade: Katana Man and revenge as a code of honor

TVIsaac Night, the genius who turns outcasts into raw material

FilmMadame Morrible invented the Wicked Witch of the West

AnimationOmni-Man, the good father preparing a genocide

AnimationSilco wants a nation for Zaun, and he builds it on a drug

FilmThe Wizard of Oz: the fraud that becomes power in Wicked

AnimeFunny Valentine: when patriotism becomes the perfect alibi for crime

GamesAkuma killed his master without hate: the code that makes murder honor

GamesWilliam Afton and the open door: the predator who designed his chance

AnimeThe strategist in the shadows: Kisaki Tetta and the calculated crime

AnimeThe utopia that kills: Lucius Zogratis and forced equality

AnimeEat or be eaten: Diego Brando, unbridled ambition and Merton's anomie

AnimeThe faceless Boss: Diavolo and the psychopathy that erases identity

AnimeEnrico Pucci: the faith that rebrands a genocide as heaven

AnimeThe stolen brother: Izana Kurokawa and displaced aggression

BooksHeathcliff comes back rich and cold to destroy those who shamed him

FilmClayface: the actor who lost his face and could wear any other

AnimeThe weapon that fakes love: Reze, Chainsaw Man's Bomb Girl

AnimeAura the Guillotine: the tyrant who cannot imagine losing

TVCarrie White and strain theory: when the victim explodes

FilmHalloween 2026: why we dress as the monster, not the hero

FilmM3GAN: when the perfect caregiver becomes a jailer

FilmThe mother who kills: Pamela Voorhees and grief with no way out

GamesResident Evil: Umbrella and the monster a company builds

FilmWhy a frightened people hands power to whoever promises order

FilmWhy crime seeks the unprotected: routine activity theory

FilmThe savior syndrome: villains who think they're heroes

TVThe villain's charisma: why we want them to win

FilmThe psychology of fanaticism: villains who manufacture devotion

FilmLord Farquaad: who decides who is a 'monster'

AnimeReiner Braun and child soldiers: how a perpetrator is manufactured

GamesBioShock: when the free market builds monsters

AnimeMy Hero Academia: the villains society manufactures

ComicsTragic villains: when you understand why they fell

FilmDisney Villains: the psychology of the fear that marked us

FilmMother Gothel and coercive control: invisible abuse

GamesVideo game villains: why they grip you like no others

FilmUltron and criminal AI: can an algorithm be a villain?

FeaturesThe most fascinating villainesses in fiction (and in criminology)

FilmRa's al Ghul wants to save the planet by purging humanity

FilmDjango and Calvin Candie: when cruelty is the norm

FilmMagneto Was Partly Right: The Criminology of Political Violence

TVReacher and the vigilante: why vigilante justice fascinates us

FilmNosferatu and the predator: obsession, stalking and repressed desire

AnimationBill Cipher and impossible deals: the psychology of the con artist

FeaturesThe rise of true crime: why we can't stop watching real crime

FeaturesThe monster factory: how fiction turns trauma into a villain

FilmThe rebirth of the slasher: why terror without a motive is scarier

Features7 cognitive biases every great villain exploits

TVAdolescence: how the manosphere radicalizes a 13-year-old boy

TVSquid Game: the debt that turns ordinary people lethal

TVThe Penguin: why Oz Cobb could only climb the ladder of crime

TVHomelander and impunity: when the most powerful commits the crime

BooksRipley: how a con artist convinces himself he is doing nothing wrong

FilmJordan Belfort wasn't a bad apple: he was the system working

FilmImmortan Joe: the warlord, the water and green criminology

AnimeSukuna, the pure monster: why science buried the born criminal

AnimeMakima: why social control with a friendly face is scarier than force

TVKilgrave: “she wanted to”, or coercive control as a superpower

FeaturesX-ray of evil: what the data on 998 fictional villains reveals

FeaturesThe 10 most intelligent villains in fiction (according to criminology)

FeaturesThe coldest villain in fiction: why zero empathy defines the monster

FeaturesVillains molded by a toxic father: parenting, control and violence

FeaturesThe apprentice who betrays his master never sees himself as a traitor

AnimeYhwach and the Auswählen: the eugenics behind Bleach's villain

ComicsSinestro in Lanterns: does fear keep order? Deterrence theory

FilmFeyd-Rautha in Dune: how a monster is manufactured (social learning)

FilmBaron Harkonnen: the anatomy of unchecked power in Dune

TVFred Waterford designed Gilead and still believed he was a good man

FeaturesFrom Polyphemus to Poseidon: every Odyssey villain is a case file

BooksCirce in Nolan's The Odyssey: the sorceress who turns men into pigs

BooksThe Sirens of The Odyssey: the song that kills and the predator theory

BooksScylla and Charybdis: the geography of crime and the lesser evil

BooksEurylochus in The Odyssey: the mutiny, the hunger and anomie

BooksMelanthius in The Odyssey: the servant's betrayal and the broken bond

AnimeThe myth of the feelingless psychopath: what psychopathy really is

AnimeThe cycle of violence: does child abuse create villains?

FilmMoral disengagement: how people who think they're good do great harm

ComicsWhy criminology calls the Punisher a criminal

FeaturesThe KRIMINIS Report: What 451 Fictional Villains Reveal About Evil

TVJoe Goldberg Psychology: Why We Root for a Stalker (You)

TVMoney Heist: Why You Want the Robbery to Succeed

TVDexter: Can a Serial Killer Be the Good Guy? The Code Explained

TVTony Soprano kills without blinking and passes out over a few ducks

TVWhy We Love Villains: The Psychology of Why the Bad Guy Wins

FilmAmerican Psycho: How Patrick Bateman Hid a Psychopath in a Suit

FilmAnton Chigurh: why he is so frightening

FilmNorman Bates: what disorder does he have?

TVProfessor Moriarty: the criminal genius, Sherlock’s nemesis

TVVillanelle: the psychopath who kills for pleasure

FilmTony Montana: Scarface and the American dream that kills

AnimeLight Yagami: Kira and labelling theory

FilmThanos: The Villain Who Thinks He Is the Hero (Utilitarianism)

FilmHans Landa: the predator with perfect manners

FilmTyler Durden and the anomie of modern man

BooksA Clockwork Orange: Alex and the price of free will

FilmJohn Doe (Se7en): the seven deadly sins killer

BooksPennywise (It): anatomy of a perfect predator

FilmJigsaw (Saw): the criminology of his games

FilmOdysseus in Nolan's "The Odyssey": is the hero a criminal?

FilmAntinous and the suitors: Nolan's Odyssey and broken windows

FilmPoseidon in Nolan's The Odyssey: the revenge that never ends

FilmPolyphemus, the Cyclops of Nolan's The Odyssey: monster or victim?

FilmCalypso in Nolan's The Odyssey: the love that is a cage

TVFrom teacher to Heisenberg: five theories for the fall of Walter White

TVIn The Wire the villain isn’t Avon Barksdale: it’s Baltimore

AnimeFive anime that are really five theories of crime

TVPsychopath vs sociopath: the real difference

FilmThe psychology of the Joker: how chaos is born

FilmAre killers born or made? The eternal debate

FilmFrom Anakin to Darth Vader: the perfect fall, according to criminology

FilmThe Godfather: how a crime empire is inherited without anyone seeing it

TVPeaky Blinders: the war trauma that built a criminal empire

FilmAmy Dunne: the psychopath nobody sees coming

TVGame of Thrones: five villains, five ways to make a monster

TVThe 7 most manipulative villains, and why we always fall for them

TV8 TV series that are really a master’s degree in the criminal mind
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